Madrid climbs above Barcelona; Chelsea wins again
Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo, right, celebrates his third goal, during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014. AP
BARCELONA, Spain — Cristiano Ronaldo scored again to help Real Madrid take the lead in the Spanish league after Barcelona surprisingly lost at home to Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Other top European teams avoided any upsets, with Bayern Munich and Chelsea both needing late penalties to earn 2-1 home victories.
Juventus took advantage of Roma’s loss to open up a three-point lead in Serie A, while Paris Saint-Germain pulled within a point of leader Marseille in the French league.
Here is a look Saturday’s games in the main European leagues.
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SPAIN
Luis Suarez’s home debut with Barcelona was spoiled by Celta Vigo as Joaquin Larrivey scored in the second half to deal the hosts a 1-0 loss.
Larrivey headed home the winner in the 55th-minute, while Neymar and Lionel Messi were both denied twice by the goal frame. Celta goalie Sergio Alvarez also made two reflex saves to deny Messi the goal he needs to equal the all-time Spanish league scoring record.
It was Celta’s first away win against Barcelona since 1942, and it came against former coach Luis Enrique.
Madrid had no such troubles as Ronaldo helped put his team provisionally atop the standings, two points ahead of Barcelona, by scoring for a 12 straight game in a 4-0 win at Granada.
Ronaldo slotted in Karim Benzema’s pass put the visitors in control from the second minute. James Rodriguez played his best match for Madrid with goals, while Karim Benzema scored after an assist from Ronaldo.
Atletico Madrid climbed into second place, one point behind Madrid, after Antoine Griezmann scored his first two league goals this season to fuel a 4-2 victory at home over Cordoba.
Sevilla is two points behind Madrid and can take the lead with a win over Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
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ENGLAND
Eden Hazard converted a second-half penalty as Chelsea beat Queens Park Rangers 2-1 to remain four points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Arsenal and Southampton also won, but Liverpool’s inconsistent start to the season continued with an away loss to Newcastle.
Oscar put Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea side ahead after 32 minutes with a delicate finish across the goal, but Charlie Austin put QPR level with a clever back-heeled flick.
Hazard was then fouled by Eduardo Vargas, and the Belgium international won the game from the penalty spot.
Southampton won 1-0 at Hull to remain in second place from Victor Wanyama’s goal in the third minute.
Arsenal beat last-place Burnley 3-0 after two goals by Alexis Sanchez, while Liverpool slumped to a 1-0 loss at Newcastle.
Substitute Ayoze Perez scored the decisive goal in the 74th for Newcastle’s fourth straight win in all competitions.
Also, Everton drew 0-0 with Swansea, West Ham drew 2-2 at Stoke, and West Bromwich Albion won 1-0 at Leicester.
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GERMANY
Arjen Robben’s late penalty gave Bayern Munich a hard-fought 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund to leave the visitors in the Bundesliga’s relegation zone.
Robben converted from the spot in the 85th minute, completing Bayern’s comeback 13 minutes after Robert Lewandowski scored the equalizer against his former side.
Marco Reus gave Dortmund a 31st-minute lead with a header from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s deep cross.
Dortmund, the 2011 and 2012 champion, has made its worst start to a season after losing seven of the opening 10 games.
Earlier, Rafael van der Vaart’s first-half penalty earned Hamburger SV a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen to move out of the relegation zone.
Hamburg moved two points above Dortmund, which is level on seven points with Werder Bremen, which won 2-1 at Mainz in Viktor Skripnik’s first league game as coach.
Wolfsburg moved provisionally second with a 4-0 win at Stuttgart, and Hannover beat Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 thanks to Alexander Madlung’s own goal in the 88th minute.
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ITALY
Andrea Pirlo scored his first goal of the season as defending champion Juventus beat Empoli 2-0 to move three points clear of Roma atop the Serie A standings.
The 35-year-old Pirlo broke the deadlock with a trademark free kick on the hour mark and Alvaro Morata added the second.
It was Pirlo’s 26th free-kick goal in Serie A, putting him one behind Sinisa Mihajlovic’s record.
Earlier, Gonzalo Higuain scored again to help Napoli beat Roma 2-0 at the Stadio San Paolo.
Higuain, who hadn’t scored in the opening seven rounds, netted his fifth goal in six days and then set up Jose Callejon for the second goal late on.
Also, Paolo De Ceglie scored both goals give last-place Parma a surprise 2-0 win against Inter Milan.
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FRANCE
Edinson Cavani and Jean-Christophe Bahebeck helped defending champion Paris Saint-Germain rally for a 2-1 win over Lorient in the French league.
Bahebeck came on as a substitute to net the winner when he beat Lorient goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte to a long ball to score into an empty net in the 68th minute.
Lorient midfielder Raphael Guerreiro had opened the scoring by firing home a low strike in the 42nd, but Cavani converted a rebound to level in the 61st.
In the race for a Champions League spot, Lyon stayed one point behind PSG by defeating Nice 3-1.
